Breathe
by BeverlyQueen
Summary: An illness strikes the second Command of the Federation Flagship, this illness leads to the formation of many other possibilities and maybe love for our Imzadi couple. R/T P/C
1. Chapter 1

Commander William Riker of the Starship USS Enterprise groaned and coughed, his tall frame racking with the movements. Gasping for breath he waited in silence before sitting up in his bed, squinting in the darkness of his quarters. Blinking twice he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, before running a shaky hand through his sweat soaked hair and swinging his heavy legs over the side of the bed to touch the cool floor.

Standing up on shaky legs he stumbled for a second before righting himself and walked over to the small bathroom off the side of the bedroom. Opening the retractable sink and running the water, he leaned heavily on the sink cursing slightly as it bowed under his weight. Splashing cool water on his face, his body once again succumbed to another coughing fit.

Bending over the sink, Riker spat the excess liquid from the back of his throat in the basin before looking up at the mirror. He looked like absolute crap from where he stood. His blue eyes were bloodshot and his hair was everywhere, covered in a thin layer of sweat that also covered his skin.

The hollows of his cheeks were prominent and his skin so pale, he was close to the colour of Beverly Crusher's skin which was near porcelain. And he felt worse than he looked.

Dripping water over his pulse points on his wrist and the back of his neck, Riker groaned as the feelings of nausea unsettled in his stomach. Coughing again, he spat back down in the sink before rinsing his mouth out with water. Stopping suddenly he swore at the sight of red tainted water that was being washed down the drain.

Coughing, he looked down at his hand swearing again as his hand was covered with red sticky fluid.

Stumbling over to his bedside table, his fingers fumbled for his com badge knocking a couple of PADDS off. Pressing down he waited for the computer to up load his request.

'_Riker to Crusher' _

'_Crusher here'_

'_Doctor could you come to my quarters, bring your medkit, please'_ Will slumped to the floor his legs finally giving out on him, his head hitting the bedside table on his way down. The sound reverberated through the com system, as blood began dripping down over his forehead.

'_Will are you alright?'_ asked Beverly as she jumped out of bed and gathered up her medkit. She headed out of her quarters grabbing her robe to cover her nightgown.

'_Beverly….'_ He passed out before he could finish his sentence.

Beverly Crusher stopped outside William Riker's quarters momentarily, before using her medical override to enter his quarters. The quarters were dark, reasonably clean for William Riker with only dirty dishes covering the table and some stray PADDS on the floor.

"Will?" asked Beverly as she headed towards his bedroom. "William?"

She gasped and ran over to his side as she rolled him over onto his side and ran her tricorder over his prone body. Slapping his comm badge that was still in his limp hand, "CRUSHER TO TRANSPORTER ROOM 2 MEDICAL EMERGENCY, TRANSPORT TWO TO SICKBAY IMMEDIATELY" she pressed her hand to the blood flow on his forehead and waited for the transporter to take hold.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Captain Jean-Luc Picard straightened his uniform as he walked quickly down the hallways towards Sickbay. The nightlife on the ship had sparked suddenly to life with Commander Riker suddenly falling violently ill, and Doctor Crusher was worried that other members of the crew were going to come down with it. She had quarantined the whole deck and had now had requested that all senior staff report to sickbay immediately for testing. Approaching the doors to sickbay he was nearly bowled over by an Ensign who was holding vials of what he assumed was blood before disappearing behind the Lab doors.

Quick footfalls behind him let him know that Counsellor Deanna Troi wasn't far behind him and he turned to look at her. She unlike him hadn't bothered to get change into her uniform; she was still dressed in her cream nightgown covered by a pale pink robe.

Entering Sickbay Picard entered cautiously in case of getting bowled over again by another medical staff member, Deanna following closely behind him. Just as Picard had expected the whole sickbay was full of crewmembers sitting on the various biobeds around the sickbay with medical staff buzzing around. Picard spotted Beverly Crusher in the midst of all the chaos and he grinned at her state of dress, definitely not standard uniform, scanning someone in her sleepwear consisting of pink satin pyjamas and a robe.

Marching over to her, he nodded at Geordie who was being scanned by Nurse Ogawa in the next biobed. The black man was sitting there silent as his visor had currently been confiscated by one of the nurses checking for the virus. Beverly turned towards them and smiled, though Picard could see the fatigue in her eyes and her stance. From what he had gathered from all the gossip is that Beverly didn't get to have any sleep before Will had called her and that she'd been in surgery all the night before he knew she had got at least 4 hours of sleep before the meeting in the morning.

"Captain, Counsellor" said Beverly nodding towards them "down the hall to your left are two rooms, one for each of you. Wait there and you'll be attended to by someone"

Captain Picard looked at her "We have private rooms now?" he asked

"Cargo Bay 2 and 3 have been changed into quarantined rooms Captain" said Beverly as she placed two folders in their hands. "Go!" she exclaimed as they looked at her peculiarly

Picard looked at her and nodded. He followed one of the nurses down the hallway towards his private room. Deanna however stayed behind with Beverly and waited patiently by her side as she followed her around the room.

"Dee go to your private room, you can't see him" said Beverly "he's in quarantine and so are you till further notice"

Deanna shot her a look "How about you?"

"I've been stripped, decontaminated and then decontaminated in my clothes, then given these pyjamas instead, still can't manage to get anyone to get me a uniform" said Beverly "I'm clean, Deanna I promise"

"But I'm not completely human, will it still affect me?" asked Deanna

"We don't know, we don't know anything right now" said Beverly running her hand through her hair "we have 10 scientists on it right now and once I'm done here, I'm going to Lab 3"

Deanna nodded and turned on her heel "If you go anywhere near Will's room, I will personally sedate you till we figure out if it's infectious or not" came Beverly's voice behind her.

Deanna stopped and turned back noticing the hard look on her best friend's face. She nodded slowly again and turned to head down the corridor towards the quarantine rooms. She headed down the long grey corridor noticing the doors, each having a name written on it before finding the door that said '_Counsellor Troi'_

Opening it she entered the white room. The room was completely white with only a bed and a desk with a chair pushed in the corner. Sitting on the bed was plain blue sickbay dressing robe and a PADD.

_Dear Counsellor Troi _

_You are under quarantine protocol till further notice. On the wall there is a blue button. If you began to feel overly tired, headaches, coughing fits, sneezing, and/or vomiting, press the button and immediate medical staff will be there to help you. Food and water will be provided for you, and a bathroom is located to your right. _

_Your quarantine should last for 36 hours, longer if you develop symptoms or if you come into contact with someone other than medical staff. _

_A medical officer will be there momentarily to asses you, if you have had any contact with Commander William Riker in the past 48 hours please notify medical staff. _

_Doctor Beverly Crusher M.D  
Chief Medical Officer of USS Enterprise_

Deanna sighed before sitting back down on the bed. It was going to be a long 36 hours.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Captain Picard waited patiently in his quarantine room standing by the desk, his hands clasped behind his back. He had been pleased with walking in here to find a stack of PADDS on his desk thankful for the medical staff and their generosity also with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

He looked up as the door opened admitting Beverly Crusher who he noted was still in pyjamas. She looked ruffled and overly tired and she pretty much collapsed on his bed.

"Your clear, Captain but your still here for another 10 hours just to make sure" she said lying back on the bed.

"What about you?" asked Picard standing up and looking over to her collapsed body

"I'm fine Captain, I've been scanned and tested, and I'm clean" said Beverly sitting up "being the first person at the scene I was the first to be quarantined"

Jean-Luc looked at the door as it opened and an Ensign in medical scrubs entered placing a tray of food on the table as well as another full of tea. He noted that there were two sets of plates on the tray and stood up to grab the food.

"Lunch is served" said Jean-Luc placing the plate on her stomach

"I'll eat it later, let me sleep" came Beverly's voice, muffled from her arm thrown over her face.

"Eat Beverly" said Jean-Luc sitting down

She sat up carefully trying not to displace the plate that was resting on her stomach before placing in on the floor and pulling a tricorder out of her pocket. She ran through the specks on the device and looked up at him and then back at the tricorder.

"Will's getting worst" said Beverly as she looked back at him, she sighed "I've got to go" she stood up and hurried quickly out of the room.

Jean-Luc looked up as she left the room, before looking back at his plate of food and the tricorder that rested on the bed.

Picking it up, he looked blankly at the small device trying to read the gibberish of medical terms and Latin objectives. Giving up he began looking at the diagrams displayed on the tricorder showing the DNA structure of a normal human next to what he assumed was Riker's. Even he, who was not trained Medical gibberish, could clearly see that there was a very big difference between the two specimens.

Placing the tricorder back on the bed, he looked down at the chicken soup that had been provided for him before turning slightly green. He knew Beverly would yell at him but right now eating just felt wrong, his first officer was sick and no one knew what was happening to him. Standing up he placed the bowl of soup on the chair before picking up Beverly's discarded plate off the floor and put that dish on the table.

Anger got the best of him and he slammed his hand on the tables counter, momentarily forgetting that the two cups of tea were still sitting on the trays. His hand connected with the edge of one of the trays, using momentum to flip the tray up and cover his hand with burning hot herbal tea.

Swearing, he shook his hand to try and get the excess tea off his hand, before grabbing the towel off the rack in the bathroom and holding it over his burning hand. Rushing into the small room, he activated the basin and let cool water run over his scolding hand. Sighing in relief he looked up at the reflection of himself in the mirror.

"What a day" he muttered

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO


	2. Chapter 2

Beverly Crusher sank down in the chair next to William Riker's bed; she sat straight for a moment before slouching down resting her head in her hands. The man in front of her wasn't getting better anytime soon, but for the moment wasn't getting any worst either.

His skin had gone beyond white and an old fashioned oxygen mask was covering his mouth and nose helping him to breath. His shallow breathing and the beeps of the monitors attached to him were the only sounds in the room, and that alone was driving her crazy.

Grasping her hand in his limp one, Beverly looked up and scanned the monitors, still no change and there had been no change since she'd left Jean-Luc's room over 5 hours ago. At least now all the crew members that had been quarantined were now cleared and some were ready to head home and go back on duty including the Captain and Counsellor.

Unfortunately no one other than Medical staff were allowed in the Commander's room, so Beverly was holding off telling Deanna that she was clear to go till she was sure that she could come in the Commander's room.

She gently squeezed Will's hand "What's wrong with you Will?" she sighed before running her hand over his forehead and pushing his mattered hair out of his face. She rested her head on the side of his biobed and slowly squeezed his hand again. "Why can't I figure it out Dimples?"

Suddenly Beverly felt a slight pressure on her own hand. It wasn't that hard so she just shook it off as his hand moving in his sleep, until it happened again. She raised her head and slowly squeezed his hand, this time the pressure being returned almost immediately. She looked up at his face and she smiled at the sight of his eyes slightly open.

"Hey, Dimples" she said, using the nickname that she had given him years ago.

He smiled slightly and coughed fogging up the face mask that covered his mouth, the pressure on her own hand increased as he tried squeezing harder.

"Blue eyes" came his scratchy voice, muffled from the mask. As soon as the words had left his mouth he coughed again, his whole body racking with shivers.

"Will don't talk" said Beverly as she ran her hand over his shoulder

She jumped slightly as the feeling of his finger running over the base of her palm before she realised that he was trying to write something with her finger. She remembered how she had told him that she and Wesley always used to do this game when he was little, so he must have thought it would help now.

"Do it again" said Beverly as he stopped

Will nodded slightly and slowly began tracing on her palm again. She recognised the first letter as a very wobbly D and then followed by an E, A, and an N. Beverly giggled slightly as the last two letters finished. N and A.

"Deanna?" she asked

Will nodded slightly again.

"She's fine Will, she's in a room a couple of doors down. All the crew were put in quarantine and all medical staff has been decontaminated"

Beverly felt him tracing on her hand again and felt the letters O, N, E slowly begin to form. Her brow furrowed at this word and she cocked her head to one side.

"One" she said, looking at him as he began to nod "One, what?" he gave her a sort of pointed look and flicked her hand in his towards his thigh. "One, you" she guessed, he shook his head "One, sickness" she guessed

He nodded again and squeezed her hand.

"You're the only one going to be sick" she said before it dawned on her "It's only you, we shouldn't be wasting time on viruses" she brightened up "It's genetic isn't it?"

Will nodded and grinned at her excited expression. Beverly stood there running thoughts and ideas through her head before coming up with a triumphant look.

"We should be looking through your family tree, for illnesses" she leant over and gently kissed his forehead. "You're brilliant, Dimples"

Will shrugged slightly and squeezed her hand harder this time.

"Sleep Will, I'll bring her in when you've slept more" said Beverly, guessing his intentions. "I know she can help you communicate, but now I want you to rest" bending over him she whispered in his ear "Sleep, Dimples"

She raised and watched his eyelids slide shut, softly humming an old tune that her grandmother used to sing to her when she was sick before quietly leaving the room, hell bent on looking for this genetic virus.

She missed Will's slight smile at her slight singing, which turned into a coughing fit that lasted for a few minutes before he slipped in a restless sleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Captain Jean-Luc Picard entered the briefing room and nodded at Lieutenant Commander Data and Geordie La Forge from where that sat in their seats, both men had been cleared early this morning and per Doctor Crusher's request both men were off duty till the following morning. He himself had just been cleared from quarantine and was not allowed on duty till tomorrow either but Doctor Crusher had called this meeting to update them all on Commander Riker's condition.

Picard looked up as Lieutenant Worf and Counsellor Troi entered the room and waited for them to sit down before sitting himself. Reaching for the PADD in front of him he nodded to his fellow staff members "Since Dr Crusher has yet to grace us with her presence let start the meeting with the update from each of the departments. Engineering, Sciences and the Bridge report that all members are back on duty and Security reports that all crewmembers that need their updated security course are to check their messages for the time of their test. Medical is reporting that all medical officers are to report for physicals next week and the senior staffs are to report for them this week on Friday"

A couple of stifled groans filled the room as the Captain mentioned their CMO's favourite pastime of chasing her senior staff for physicals.

"Before you start complaining Doctor Crusher will not be performing the physicals, Dr Selar will be handling all crew related inquiries until Dr Crusher has finished her research" said the Captain, he turned to Deanna who was sitting to his left "Counsellor would you mind staying behind for a moment after the meeting" he turned to the rest of the senior staff "If there's nothing else, since Dr Crusher doesn't seem like she's going to join us, you're all dismissed"

He waited till the others filled out of the conference room, before turning to Counsellor Troi who was still sitting at the table, nodding his head to her in thanks he sat down next to her.

"Counsellor Troi, I would like you to keep an eye on Dr Crusher for me, you know how she gets with these things, forgetting to sleep and eat"

Deanna nodded slightly and then turned back to the PADD on the desk. "Sure Captain"

The Captain stood up and leaned closer to her ear "Counsellor, I'm giving you a free pass to see Captain Riker, your welcome"

He turned and quietly left the room smiling to himself.

Deanna Troi looked at his retreating form with a shocked look before a small smile spread across her face. Pushing her chair away from the conference table, she grabbed the last remaining PADDs on the desk before calling for the computer.

"Computer cancel all my appointments for the next two days, reschedule them till further notice next Wednesday. Authorisation Troi-gamma-2-4" she called as she head towards the turbo lift.

"Sickbay" ordered Troi

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Doctor Beverly Crusher ran a hand through her hair, groaning as her fingers caught the tangles that had developed from that repeated movement. Rescuing her fingers she frowned as the copper coloured curls fell over her face and with one hand she grabbed a handful, glaring at it before pushing it back behind her ear.

"Of all the days not to straighten it" she groaned as it once again fell over her ear and into her face.

Grabbing a stray hair-tie from her desk draw she pulled it all back in a tight bun and fastening her fringe back with some hair clasps. She smiled in victory as it stayed out of her face, but frowned as some came loose and fell once again in her face.

Beverly threw her hands up in defeat "I'm so cutting this soon"

"I hope not" came a voice from her door

Beverly looked up at the Captain as he entered her office and sat down on the side of her desk, tugging her hands away from her hair and onto his lap.

"I can cut it if I wish" said Beverly smiling "It's my hair"

Picard lifted slowly pushed the stray hairs out of her eyes and smiled. His hand rested by her ear for a moment before trailing down her face and gently raising her chin. Leaning over he gently pressed a kiss to her forehead and smiled down at her "If you cut your hair, I'll be very disappointed"

Beverly smiled back and sighed "I guess I can live with it for a little while"

Picard leaned back and picked up the PADD that lay abandoned on her desk quietly reading through the data. "Will?" he asked

"It's a genetic virus that is hereditary carried by the female but only affecting the males of the line, it's called Scott's disease, rare these days, discovered in the 22nd century by a scientist called Mathew Scott. It targets the nervous system, affecting the main organs through nerves" said Beverly taking the PADD. "Though it's been around for ages, there hasn't been much information on it, it seems the only scientists or doctors that have researched it, have had it themselves. As I said its rare and very devious as it skips generations randomly, many families have forbidden their children to have their own kids to try and get rid of it."

"Is there a cure?" asked Picard

"Theoretically, yes" said Beverly "practically no"

Picard looked at her strangely and turned back the screens that adorned the walls. "It's complicated; it works in theory but has never been used on humans"

"Will you be able to make it work?" asked Picard turning to her

"Maybe" said Crusher turning back to the PADD

"Beverly?" asked Picard

"Maybe" said Beverly looking up into his eyes

"I want an update on him every hour" said Picard "I want to know if he gets worse and I want to know if he gets better"

Beverly nodded and was about to say something when the red alert went off, the whole ship shaking with the impact of something hitting their starboard side. Picard with one last look at Beverly, nodded and then practically sprinted for the bridge.


	3. Chapter 3

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Deanna Troi felt the whole ship rock underneath her and grabbed the nearest wall to hold herself up as the whole ship lurched to one side.

"CAPTAIN PICARD TO ALL DECKS, BATTLESTATIONS" came the Captain's voice over the intercom system.

Troi watched as crewmembers ran past her towards their stations before straightened herself back up and headed in the direction of sickbay.

She barely had the time to react as the ship lurched again to one side and fell ungracefully on her bottom. She turned as she heard a crewman yell a warning, to see the wall console closest to Sickbay blow up showing medical staff in glass and electrically conduits. Turning she saw that now half the wall of the eastern side of the ship on deck 12, usually holding offices and labs was now exposed to space with a force field covering the gaping hole.

Struggling to her feet she grasped the elbow the nearest medical officer that had fallen with her and practically shoved her into sickbay.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Inside Sickbay was chaos, with medical staff running everywhere and Doctors attending to the most wounded.

"Alright I want medical teams 12 to 16 to head to cargo bay 4; all minimal injuries will go there. Teams 7 to 11 are to head to cargo bay 3, you will deal with broken bones, concussions ect, teams 1 to 6 will stay here. Doctors Wiseman and Halliday you are to head to bay 3, Doctors Semler and Hassett you go to bay 4, Doctor Hope take team 17 and set up a children's hospital in the school for minor injuries, all major injuries will stay here" came Doctor Selar's voice over the loud noise of sickbay.

Deanna looked around for the tattletale signs of Beverly, her red hair or blue lab coat. Not seeing it she turned to Nurse Ogawa who appeared at her side to take the injured crewman from her arm.

"Alyssa, where's Beverly?"

The nurse turned to her "I haven't seen her, last time I did she was heading to Commander Riker's room to check up on him that was after the ship was attacked the first time"

Deanna nodded and the nurse scampered off with the crewman. Troi made her way through the bustle of injuries and headed towards the private rooms stopping at the door marked Commander Riker. She stopped at the blinking red light that signalled that need for a nurse or medical staff on the door, and pushed it open in fear, hoping that Will wasn't hurt.

Rushing in she sighed in relief at Will who was sitting up in the bed, but frowned at his startled looked and panicked breathing. Looking around the room she saw that nothing was really out of place other than a couple of stray medical instruments flung across the room and the medical cabinet that had fallen over on the other side of the bed.

"Deanna" croaked Will ripping off his breathing mask

"Will don't do that" said Deanna rushing over to him and grabbing the mask off him.

He stopped her by placing his hands on hers. "Deanna…..Beverly" he said

"She's not here Will, we don't know where she is"

He shook his head "Beverly" he made a motioning motion with his hand and Deanna looked over to other side of the bed.

Deanna struggled to withhold a scream as she caught sight of her best friend. The medical cabinet had fallen on her and the only thing she could see was the doctor's hand clasping a PADD and a whole lot of blood.

Deanna's eyes widened as she ran out into the main part of sickbay. Grabbing Nurse Ogawa by the arm, she practically pulled her and two other male nurses towards Riker's room.

"Counsellor Troi are you alright?" asked the very confused nurse

Deanna ignored her as she dragged her into the room, with two very confused nurses following behind. Nurse Ogawa took one look at the room and crossed to the other side of the room, gasping as she caught sight of her boss underneath the cabinet.

"You two try and get the cabinet off her" ordered Troi as the two male nurses headed over to the cabinet. With a nod to each other they slowly grasped the edges of the cabinet before lifting it slowly.

Alyssa bent down with a tricorder scanning before startling the two men when she ordered them to stop. The ship beneath them gave a lurch and Counsellor Troi wasn't the only one in the room that fell over in that instance. Suddenly all the explosions stopped and it was silence.

"Captain Picard to all hands stand down" came the Captain's voice over the intercom.

Troi breathed a sigh of relief as the battle was over.

Turning back to the nurses she gave a nod, and watched as they slowly lifted the cabinet off their CMO, showing the full extent of her injuries. Blood was pouring out of a deep wound in her back, while one leg was twisted at odd angles, a large cut was apparent on the back of her head and her wrist was covered in a thick layer of blood.

Suddenly Ogawa's tricorder started beeping and flashing. Both male nurses gently picked up their CMO and hurried out of the room heading towards the surgery room, Ogawa heading closely behind them calling for Dr Selar on her way.

Deanna took one look at Will who was now lying back on his bed, his eyes dropping with exhaustion now knowing that his friend was in good hands the adrenalin was wearing off. Deanna agreed with him and though she knew she should be up on the bridge, the sight of Beverly's blood covering the floor and the worry of all the people around him exhausted her. She walked over to the bed and sat up against the raised half of the bed, resting her back against Will's chest before closing her eyes.

Both occupants of the bed slowly drifted off to sleep, smiles on their faces.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Captain Picard strode into Sickbay his head held high and his face impassive, the only thing that brought the whole captain posture down was the blood running from a wound on his shoulder. However his shoulder was the furthest thing from his mind, his was set of finding out the status of his CMO. Walking through to the private rooms he stopped at Riker's room and smiled at the comforting sight in front of him. Troi and Riker were curled up together, the counsellor resting on his chest while the bigger man's arms were wrapped around her middle. Deanna was fast asleep but Riker was wide awake his eyes staring lovingly at the sleeping women in his arms.

Picard straightened his shirt before giving them a wistful smile and heading towards the other occupied private room, in the corridor. Pushing open the door his eyes fell on the still form of his CMO, who lay quietly on the bio-bed, her silent form still except for the slowly rising and falling of her chest. Walking over to the bed, Picard reached over and slowly ran his hand through her now shoulder length copper hair.

"We had to cut it for the surgery" came Dr Selar's voice behind him, he turned around and looked the emotionless face of the Vulcan doctor.

"Her injuries?" asked Captain Picard

"Her spinal cord was damaged as the cabinet fell on her, she has a broken wrist and several lacerations, her lung collapsed and she suffered a head injury. Everything has been healed though further surgeries have been scheduled to repair her spinal cord" said Selar "Even then we don't know if she'll ever be able to walk for a while" she looked the captain straight in the eyes "Captain there is a slight chance that she'll never dance again" checking her tricorder she looked up at him again "she should wake up in about 30 minutes captain"

Picard looked down at the sleeping beauty in front of him, before nodding dismissal to the doctor and watching her depart.

"Oh Bev" he whispered leaning down to kiss her forehead as he sat down on the chair that had been left beside the beside. "What are we going to do with you?"

The silence answered him as he watched over the sleeping form of the woman he loved.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

William Riker slowly opened his eyes as the warm body next to his moved and slowly sat up, staring up at the inky black pupils of Deanna Troi as he smiled.

"I could wake up to you everyday" he wheezed out, coughing

Deanna waited for the coughing spell to stop resting her hand on his chest. After few minutes Will's chest stopped heaving and he smiled up at her again.

"Will I'm going to go and see Beverly, I'll come back soon" she said standing up.

Will sat up straighter in bed, "I want to come" he said

"Will, you need to stay here" said Deanna standing up from the bed

"Deanna I want to see my friend" said Will weakly "I don't care if you get a wheel chair, I want to see her" he looked the counsellor in the eyes "I called her in here, it's partly my fault she's injured"

Deanna shook her head "Will in no way is this your fault, it was an accident"

"I want a wheelchair Deanna" said Will

Nodding Deanna went to arrange a short trip to Beverly's room. Will looked around the room that had become the second home to him in past 2 weeks. He turned away from the upturned cabinet in the far corner of the room, and the stain in the carpet from the blood. Techs had been to remove it but it had soaked into the carpet and was now showing itself.

After a few minutes Deanna arrived back with Alyssa at her heels and an intern wheeling a wheelchair into the room. Alyssa headed over to his bed and scanned him with a tricorder, nodding her head slightly to one side.

"Commander, you have improved slightly in the last 2 days, hopefully you'll stay like this till we can find a cure. No coughing blood, or anything?" she asked

Will shook his head

"Okay well you can go see Dr Crusher for a couple of minutes, remember you're not as strong as you were and Dr Crusher just woke up so she'll be a little groggy" said Alyssa

Both Deanna and Will nodded and the intern helped Will into the chair. Grasping the handles in her hands Deanna slowly wheeled him down the corridor and stopped at the door to Beverly's room. Deanna smiled at the sweet scene in front of her.

The lights in the private room were dimmed to a soft glow that bathed over to the two occupants of the room. Jean-Luc Picard of the Flagship of the Federation was sitting in a chair next to the bed, his elbows resting on the side of the bio-bed, his eyes watching the woman in front of him. Beverly lay on her side, facing him her right hand clasped in his while her left hand was resting gently on his cheek. Deanna couldn't hear what they were saying but she could see they were talking quietly and as she watched Jean-Luc slowly brushed a tear off her cheek, before bending down and gently kissing her forehead.

Will grinned as Deanna subtly coughed breaking to two people apart, she expected them to be embarrassed but what she didn't expect was Beverly to hide her face in her hands and turn away slight from them.

Picard stood up with a grim expression on his face as he walked towards them, motioning them to the outside of the room. Closing the door behind them, he sighed.

"Beverly's injuries were quite serious and they've managed to heal her head injury and her collapsed lung but her legs are a different matter" he looked up at Deanna "she'll have to go through surgeries to repair her nerves in her legs, there's a chance that she'll never walk again. There is a very high chance that she'll never dance again" he looked back at the door "she's tired now, and a little upset so make your visit brief"

Deanna nodded and slowly wheeled Will in the room. Stopping by the beside she leant over and slowly brushed her hand over Beverly's forehead. The CMO opened her eyes slightly and smiled weakly at them. Deanna could feel the supressed pain of her injuries and the emotional pain of not being able to properly walk. Will leaned over and slowly grasped Beverly's hand in his before dragging it out from under the covers.

"Hey Blue Eyes" he said softly as he gently clasped her hand in his "what have you gotten yourself into?" he asked

"Lots of stuff" said Beverly quietly

"Now we're both stuck here, Blue Eyes" said Will "you were my escape plan"

This elected a small laugh out of Beverly before she buried herself back further in the blankets. Will suddenly felt really tired and signalled to Deanna that he wanted to go back to his room, as they exited Will saw out of the corner of his eye, Picard approaching the bed again and gently picking Beverly up and cradling her against his chest. Smiling wistfully at the sight he turned back to Deanna. "Onward we go" he dramatically pointed towards his room and smiled as she laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

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William Riker was so bored it wasn't funny, he had been throwing a stress ball at the wall for the past 2 hours and it wasn't half as interesting as it was before. He had however mastered the skill of hitting the release button to open the door, but had been promptly told off for doing so by Ogawa after about the 10th time. It had been 3 weeks since he had first be diagnosed with the disease and though he wasn't life threatening anymore, the disease was slowly shutting down the nerves in his body, three days ago he has lost all feeling in his legs and now the numbness was creeping up his back. He wasn't the only one confined to sickbay though, Beverly had been confined as well but she had work to do. She'd been in a wheelchair for the past 2 weeks and was not at all pleased about it, but she'd thrown herself in to her work with vigour, hoping to find a cure or at least make a dent on his illness. So far she had found a vaccination for it but the only problem was it was for Betazoids and Vulcans and her worries were that it would affect him differently.

Hitting the release button he startled Nurse Ogawa who was just about to open the door, causing her to drop the PADDs in her hands and scatter them all over the floor.

"Commander Riker" she exclaimed "I've told you not too do that" she bent down to grab all the PADDs and placed them on the table near the door. "George will be in here soon to take you to Dr Selar for a check-up" she got out the collapsible wheel-chair from the now fastened Medical cabinet.

George, a new intern arrived a few minutes later. Riker had gotten used to having the younger man around him, George had been assigned to look after him and care for him and he enjoyed his company. It did help that he was a very good poker player.

After a few minutes of shuffling and lifting, Riker was soon sitting comfortably in his wheelchair and ready to head to the main part of sickbay. As he travelled down the small corridor to the main sickbay he smiled at all the nurses and interns that were wondering down the corridors doing bits and pieces keeping sickbay up and running.

Appearing out in the main part of sickbay he was immediately meet by small arms wrapping around legs and a small body pressing into his shins.

"Hello Noah" said Will reaching down and picking up the small boy in his arms and resting him on his lap.

Noah Ogawa smiled up showing the gap between his two front teeth, before gently hugging his chest. His mother rolled her eyes, leaving the small child on his chest as she wheeled the chair over to a treatment area. As Michelle snuggled into his chest Will looked around the main part of sickbay, a couple of Ensigns stood around a bio-bed, and through the clear glass of her office he could see Beverly leaning over her console.

Wheeling up to the edge of a bio-bed, Alyssa picked up her son while Will let one of the Nurses called George to pick him up and place him on the bed. Letting his paralysed legs hang off the bed, Will waited patiently as Alyssa ran a tricorder over him, his eyes wondering to the red-headed doctor in her office.

Alyssa followed his eyes and gave him a half-smile. 'She's due for her next operation tomorrow, this should be her last on"

"How are her legs?"

"She can lift them and stretch but other than that we hope this last operation will give her the feeling back in her legs" Alyssa shrugged "If she felt like actually trying we might get further"

Will looked back at the small nurse before him. "I take it that she's cranky"

"She's beyond cranky, she's bitchy" came a new voice behind them.

Will turned his head slightly smiling at the half betazoid counsellor that had just entered Sickbay, walking up to the bio-bed. Noah who had previously been playing on the floor by their feet had jumped up and hugged the counsellor before begging to be picked up.

Deanna picked up the small boy in her arms and hugged him close "Beverly just seems to be giving up, she doesn't try in our sessions and Dr Selar has told me that she barely participates in her treatments, the Captain's even mentioned to me that she doesn't talk to him either"

Will looked at the doctor again, before back at the group. Alyssa entered some information on a PADD before looking up into the counsellor's eyes. "I'll give this latest data to Dr Crusher; you're not getting any worse since last time, so Dr Selar wants you to begin some rehabilitation sessions to try and regain some strength in the muscles you have left" she smiled at them before taking her son from Troi "Dr Crusher should be here soon to talk to you"

Will watched as she exited before turning back to his Imzadi who was standing next to him, smiling he held his arms open and smiled as she hugged him. Resting her head on his shoulder Deanna squeezed him hard around the midsection and buried her cheek in his shoulder. A few tears slipped from her cheek and onto the blue sickbay pyjamas he wore.

"Hey, I'm not getting any worse, you're still stuck with me" said Will gently kissing her forehead

"What if you don't get better?" asked Deanna "what if Beverly doesn't get better?" she pulled back from him.

"Beverly's strong, I'm strong" said Will running his hand through her hair, "we're not going anywhere"

Deanna nodded slightly, her eyes still downcast. Sighing heavily she reconstructed herself, and held her head high. Hugging Will close, she smiled up at him. "You will get better"

Laying her head back on his shoulder, Will kissed her forehead and whispered "We will get better" his eyes caught the blue of his Chief Medical Officer and she nodded at him. "We will get better"

Watching the scene in front of her, Beverly felt her heart wrench as she watched Deanna look so uncertain and scared about losing her friends. Wheeling closer to the door of her office, she grabbed the PADD that rested on the couch and slowly scrolled through the information. She had two hours until her surgery and she'd just come across a breakthrough in her research. So far, a cure for Vulcans and Betazoids had been made but while humans shared similar markers it still wasn't close enough. Turning back to the PADDS on her desk she grabbed the closet to her and quickly ran through the information.

"Alyssa" she called "Get me Counsellor Troi's family tree and vaccinations records, I want to try something"

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Sickbay was silent as Will was wheeled out of his physical therapy session, peering into his favourite doctor's office smiling at the sight of the red head fast asleep, resting her upper body on the desk and PADDS scattered practically everywhere. Peaking up the wall console he caught sight of Deanna Troi's family history scrolling continuously down the screen, little notes in Beverly's handwriting added to bits. The second wall console held an equation of sorts separated into three parts, Beverly's notes strewn throughout the continuous scrawling numbers and letters. As he watched two of the equations continuously removed numbers and then joined together creating a formula of some sort.

Sitting on her side desk were hyposprays some empty, some full and some with their contents spewed all over the array of dishes and slabs. The electronic microscope that was in her office was still on, a slide sitting underneath it, the contents a strange blue colour.

Will slowly wheeled up next to her desk as Alyssa who had entered behind him went to turn off the microscope and clear up the hyposprays. As Will approached the sleeping doctor he heard a gasp behind him and Alyssa running out calling out to Dr Selar. As soon as Alyssa had returned with the Vulcan doctor behind her she began pointing at the screen and the hyposprays on the table. Dr Selar showed what had to be a smile before grabbing one of the sprays and heading towards the Science labs at the other end of sickbay.

"What's happening?" asked Will

"It seems that Doctor Crusher has found a sort of cure" said Alyssa her excitement showing in her eyes, "she used the bio chemical data from the previous vaccinations and then with the help of some of Deanna's DNA has changed it to suit a hybrid" she turned to him "hopefully we can synthesis it more to suit your bio chemistry and then we've found the cure"

Will looked at her as she bounced up and down "We've found a cure?"

"Yep, you should be back on duty soon Sir" she quickly left the room leaving a dumbstruck commander in her wake.

Will turned back to the sleeping doctor and smiled. She'd found the cure, hopefully it would work and then he'd be back, he had so much to thank her for. Frowning at the wheelchair she sat in, he hoped that he could do the same for her. Wheeling over to her, he saw the stasis units that her legs were in and how the bottom of her spin was held rigidly to the chair.

Running his figures through her short copper curls he gently nudged her cheek, knowing that she was a light sleeper. He waited only a couple of seconds before nudging her again this time a little harder and smirked as her tired blue eyes opened.

"Hey Blue eyes" he said resting his head on his hands that were crossed on the table. Now down to eye level with her, he grinned. "Have a nice nap?"

"It wasn't long enough" groaned Beverly her eyes closing again.

"Well you'd better get ready for a longer nap, remember your surgeries today" said Will, as soon as he'd mentioned it; he saw the sparkle in her eye disappear and she lowered her eyes. "Hey" he said gently nudging her shoulder, "I promised Deanna that we'd get better, and we will get better" he looked into her eyes, "we have to get better"

Beverly slowly nodded as Alyssa came to retrieve Will from the office. Resting her head back on the table she sighed and looked at the time.

"One hour to go"

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End file.
